Here’s How To Shock Your Pool FAST (In 6 Easy Steps)

Today you're going to learn how to shock your pool FAST ...

In six EASY steps.

When you're done reading this guide, you'll understand everything there is to know about what pool shock is, why you need to shock your pool, when to shock your pool, how to shock your pool, and the different types of pool shock to use.

Best of all: it's REALLY easy to do and will keep your pool clean and algae-free.

Heavy rain can dilute your pool, leaving you with very low chlorine levels

When to shock your pool

Most people only decide to shock their swimming pools when they see an overgrowth of algae or they start getting cloudy pool water, but by this time, cleaning your pool could take a lot more work.

So if you stay on top of this chore by shocking your pool once a week, you may be able to avoid an algae overgrowth.

This kind of contamination often requires way more scrubbing, vacuuming and sometimes even draining than you will ever want to do.

BUT…in case you are like the rest of us and occasionally put things off, here are the times when you should shock your pool even if you don’t feel like it:

When free chlorine levels drop below 3 ppm

Let's first talk about the differences between free chlorine, combined chlorine, and total chlorine.

Free chlorine: The chlorine that's actively cleaning your pool, "free" to do its job. Be sure to use cyanuric acid to stabilize the free chlorine.

Combined chlorine: This is the chlorine that while technically still in your pool, is mostly "used up" and not able to clean your pool. High levels of combined chlorine mean there is less free available chlorine to do its job.

Total chlorine: This is simply the sum of free chlorine + combined chlorine.

Generally, the goal is to raise your free chlorine to about 10x the level of the combined chlorine (commonly know as "break point chlorination).

Most pool test strips won't be able to measure combined chlorine and total chlorine, so you'll have to use a pool test kit to do this job.

Calcium hypochlorite is usually granular and also sometimes called cal-hypo shock.

According to American Chemistry Council, it “destroys germs that are capable of causing numerous health problems for pool users--diarrhea, swimmer's ear (a nasty earache) and various respiratory, skin and wound infections.”

This is the most popular shock purchased because it’s considered the strongest and it’s also the cheapest.

It dissolves quickly and should be used at night because it’s adversely affected by sunlight.

Lithium hypochlorite

Lithium hypochlorite is usually used in pools with high calcium levels because it doesn’t contain calcium itself.

You don't have to pre-dissolve it, making it slightly more convenient than other shocks.